


powerful

by glownary



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Relationship, Getting Together, M/M, Minor Violence, Pre-Canon, Pre-Game Momota Kaito, Pre-Game Momota Kaito/Oma Kokichi, Pre-Game Oma Kokichi, Pre-Game Personalities (New Dangan Ronpa V3), Pre-New Dangan Ronpa V3, Smoking, and are closer to ingame, except the personalities are nothing like fanon, the violence tags arent them hurting each other. to be clear.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23426806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glownary/pseuds/glownary
Summary: "You know... there's a better way to end a fight."Eyebrows drawing together, Kaito pauses with the cigarette halfway to his lips. "You say that like you know from experience," he says.(A different kind of pregame fic. Kaito finds that Kokichi is the farthest thing from weak.)
Relationships: Momota Kaito/Oma Kokichi
Comments: 13
Kudos: 122





	powerful

They started off just talking about the show.

 _'Did you watch last night? It was way too obvious,'_ Kokichi would tell him.

 _'Yeah. I felt bad for her, though. She was only trying to protect her friends,'_ Kaito would answer.

There's only so much two people can say about Danganronpa when neither of them particularly like the gore. Eventually they stop talking about it, for the most part, finding other things to discuss instead. Kaito talks about his grandparents—how they love him and he loves them, but he feels like they don't fully understand him. Kokichi talks about his own family even though he doesn't really have one. Kaito talks about space; how much he wants to go, and how he'll definitely get there someday soon. Kokichi talks about power; he describes it as a state of being and claims to already have it.

One day after knowing each other for some time, Kaito admits in a rush of shame that he knows he's not really going to make it to space. The doctors told him since he was young that his lungs would never be strong enough for something like that. 

Kokichi doesn't show him any pity, and he appreciates that.

He figures out on his own that Kokichi is lying about having a family. When confronted about it, Kokichi just smiles and admits the truth without a trace of sadness.

It makes Kaito wonder about the other things Kokichi had said—the way he spoke about power.

A year into their friendship, Kaito gets into a fight with some upperclassmen from his school. It's not the first time it's happened and he knows it probably won't be the last. He still goes to their usual hangout spot afterwards, a bit late. 

Kokichi doesn't say anything about his injuries at first. They talk about the show for a little bit, then about space and Kaito's grandparents and what to eat that night. The conversation lulls into amicable silence for a few minutes.

"So. What happened this time?" 

Kaito snorts, smoke exhaling from his nostrils. "Was wondering when you were gonna ask. I was starting to think you wouldn't."

Kokichi says nothing, just waits with an eyebrow raised. 

"Alright, alright. Some guys were starting shit, trying to get this kid's money, I think. I stepped in but there were three of them, so." He takes another drag. "I got some good hits in though. Think I might have broken one guy's nose."

Leaning back against the wall, Kokichi's eyes scan Kaito's face for a moment, taking in the bruises and scrapes. "How did the fight end?"

Kaito sighs. "Got broken up by a teacher. I didn't get in trouble though. The kid vouched for me, said I didn't start anything and only fought back to protect myself."

"You know... there's a better way to end a fight."

Eyebrows drawing together, Kaito pauses with the cigarette halfway to his lips. "You say that like you know from experience," he says.

Kokichi laughs, light and airy. "Maybe I do. Interested?"

Kaito crosses his arms over his chest, cigarette nearly forgotten as he holds it loosely between two fingers. "Yeah, I'll bite. Tell me what you mean."

Throwing both arms up behind his head, Kokichi grins. "Laugh at them."

Kaito looks at him as though he's grown a second head. "That's your big idea? Laughing at someone who's trying to hit you?"

Kokichi splays his fingers out to his sides and shakes his head, smile not leaving his face. "Oh, no, not at someone just trying to hit you. You laugh _after_ they've hit you."

 _"What?"_ Kaito starts. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"I'm not talking about a giggle. It's gotta be full blown hysterics," Kokichi tells him. Pushing himself away from the wall, Kokichi walks in front of Kaito to put his dramatic hand gestures on full display. "Laugh in their face! Spit blood at their feet! Show them that nothing they do can hurt you in a way that matters." He brings his hands back together with a loud clap. "Any shred of fear is too much. You've gotta pretend you're a god for as long as they're watching. Manage that and they'll back off and never mess with you again."

Letting out a huff of air, Kaito returns his cigarette to his lips and averts his eyes. "There's no way that would work." He inhales.

"Don't knock it 'till you try it," Kokichi responds. He turns on his heel. "Those things'll kill you, y'know," he says, his tone almost amused.

Kaito breathes out smoke. He smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes. "If I'm lucky."

When Kokichi laughs and walks away, Kaito still doesn't get it. Not until he sees it in action.

It doesn't take very long—two weeks after that conversation, Kaito is leaving school as usual when he hears sounds coming from the alley behind the building. Rounding the corner and mentally preparing himself for a possible fight, he freezes when his eyes land on Kokichi right as someone's fist makes contact with his face.

Blind rage bubbles up under Kaito's skin and he takes a step forward, ready to throw caution to the wind and the attacker to the ground, until he hears the laughter start. 

Cheek bright red, Kokichi's face tilted in the direction it was pushed, his shoulders start to shake as he laughs louder and louder. His expression is hidden at first from the angle, but when he turns his head foward, Kaito can see it clearly; the horrifically wide grin stretching across his face, the unhinged look in his eyes, the trickle of blood running from his nose to his chin and staining his teeth on the way down.

"Is that all?" he cries out, flinging both arms out as far as they could go. The cackling begins to remind Kaito of a hyena. 

The person who had thrown the punch takes a step back on instinct. One of his friends grabs his shoulder and pulls, calling out "C'mon man, the dudes' a freak," while trying to lead him out of the alley. Shaking his head, he follows his friends. "You're fucking crazy," he yells back as the four of them pass by Kaito to leave.

One of them shoulder checks Kaito as they leave and he barely processes it. Instead, he stares at Kokichi, transfixed.

He's still laughing, letting it slowly die down. His arms remain spread out, now seeming to be a display for Kaito rather than the others. The look in his eye has shifted to something Kaito has never seen before.

He didn't really know Kokichi until this moment, he thinks. Before, Kokichi was interesting but a mystery—and on some level, Kaito hadn't yet shaken the thought of him as small. It's gone now, and all Kaito sees are two things:

Powerful and free.

He suppresses the urge to find out how the blood on Kokichi's teeth tastes. His face burns.

"Are you gonna come here? Or are you still enjoying the view?" 

Kaito's gaze snaps up from Kokichi's lips to his eyes. He rushes closer and pushes his erratically beating heart down from the spot it had found in his throat. 

As he gets close, he realizes Kokichi has more wounds than he initially noticed. "They hit you before that? Why didn't you freak them out after the first hit?" Slinging his backpack off his shoulder, he opens it and digs around for something to help. Quickly pulling out some tissues, he holds the opposite hand gently against Kokichi's cheek, fingers threading his hair, then presses the tissues to his nose.

Kokichi's still smiling but it's different now that they're alone. Smaller, softer, more genuine. "There were four of them, I had to give myself extra time."

"Extra time for what?" Kaito pulls the tissue away, satisfied that the bleeding has stopped. He pulls the hand laced through Kokichi's hair away more reluctantly.

Kokichi reaches into his pockets. His eyelids lower a bit, his expression mischievous. "I'm taking you someplace nice tonight, where do you wanna go?"

Voice exasperated, Kaito asks him, "What are you talking about?!"

Smile growing—not to the extent as before, just a regular grin—Kokichi pulls four wads of cash out, two from each pocket. "Do you think they'll notice that their wallets are lighter?"

Kaito's eyebrows shoot up and he stills for a moment before breaking out into his own smile. "I really shouldn't be surprised—it would be more surprising if you didn't steal from them," he tells him.

Kokichi laughs—for real this time—and Kaito thinks he could listen to it forever. Their faces are closer than he had realized and again he's filled with the intense desire to close the gap.

He distracts himself by searching his bag for bandages.

That night they go out to a restaurant outside of either of their normal price ranges. Kaito's ears turn red when he can't tell whether Kokichi's joking or not, every time he calls it a date.

A few months later Kaito finds himself thinking about the incident again. "I just realized something," he says out of the blue.

Kokichi urges him to continue—"Mhm?"—as he checks something on his phone.

"That day in the alley, you never told me why those guys were attacking you."

"Hm? Oh, them? They were mugging me. Probably thought I'd be an easy mark. Which was funny, 'cause I didn't have anything to take." He looks up from his phone and grins. "And got even funnier when I robbed them."

Kaito shakes his head but looks at him with fondness in his eyes. "Watching you deal with them, I felt like that's what made me understand you," Kaito admits.

Something flashes in Kokichi's eyes. He gives Kaito his full attention. "How's that?"

Kaito glances away, rubbing one hand against the back of his neck. "Just... they picked you because they thought you looked weak. And they only thought that because they don't know you. And... I might've thought you were weak before I knew you, too, but the power that you had—"

Kokichi quickly steps in close, placing his palms flat against the wall on either side of Kaito's body. Kaito stops talking and presses back into the wall as much as possible.

Kokichi's smile is wicked. Nothing like the one from that day, not scary, just wicked. "Is that what you think of me? That I'm powerful?"

Their faces are closer than they had been when Kaito had helped patch him up. Kokichi's breath hits his cheek and he swallows audibly. "Yes," he answers and averts his eyes.

"Look at me."

He obeys. Kokichi pushes up onto his toes and pauses. His eyes flick from Kaito's own eyes to his lips and back again.

Kaito leans in.

**Author's Note:**

> this fic helped me work out my pregame headcanons, so if you liked my take on them, you can look forward to a much more in-depth multichapter pregame fic sometime in the future!


End file.
